4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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1. The initiative was outlined in the White Paper for a Modern Public Administration: Setting out the Achievements and Challenges for the Public Administration of Bulgaria in the European Union, 2005. About 50 NGOs and universities were involved in the preparation of the White Paper. They all agreed to the specific intervention for creating a unique place for public consultations.
2. The new tool was included as a measure in the Strategy for Transparent Governance and for Prevention and Counteraction of Corruption, 2006-2008.
3. The new tool was included as a measure in the programme budget of the Council of Ministers (Government’s office).
4. The Portal was established through a public procurement procedure after drafting a project concept for developing the website. It was decided to have three main sections: “Public consultations”, “Strategic documents” and “Today the society decides”. At these sections all main government initiatives (legislation and strategies) are published for public consultations. The Portal pays special attention to the voice of civil society in policy making. It is the only one place on the internet where you can find all strategic documents in Bulgaria. They are divided in the same areas of public policies as the public consultations. This makes searching and finding relevant information easier.
5. The administrators and contact points in the ministries were appointed. Training was provided.
6. Official kick-off was given by the Prime Minister in March 2008 together with the start of the first Better Regulation Program.
7. Internet banner was created. The banner was put on different websites: ministries, regional administrations, most of the municipalities; and NGOs.
8. A campaign promoting the website was launched. A process of affirmation of the website as a main place for public consultations on the internet took place.
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5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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The very first idea arose in the discussion on the White Paper for a modern public administration as an idea to involve civil society in the governance and to increase the activity of the civil society in public consultations.
It was supported by many organizations, including international – UK Department for the International Development, etc.
The World Bank office in Sofia was also involved in supporting the idea.
A number of civil servants (about 30) and representatives of non-governmental organizations contributed to the idea of creating such a tool.
Every ministry (the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education and Science, etc.) was involved in the project. All secretary generals and ministers supported the idea.
The project was backed by the Bulgarian centre for nongovernment law (NGO) - http://www.bcnl.org/, the Institute for Market Economics - www.ime.bg, Public Administration Department at the “St. Kliment Ohridski” University of Sofia, etc. The project was implemented by the administration of the Council of Ministers.
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6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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The initiative was started by the Strategic Planning and Governance Directorate at the Council of Ministers. The cost of the new tool was about $20 000. The website was installed on an existing server at the administration of Council of Ministers. The initiative was at the expense of the state budget.
Supporting letters for engaging the ministries in this initiative were received. The contact points in the ministries were appointed. About 30 people were involved on a regular basis to work on the Portal.
When the technical formalities were overcome, the Portal was launched online and the official kick-off was made by the Prime Minister.
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7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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1. Coverage – all institutions at central level were involved in the project.
2. Networking – we have created excellent working environment within the administration and real networking between institutions.
3. Transparency – we have created transparent environment and platform to exchange ideas between state, private sector, civic sector and the media. We have stimulated civil servants to work together with the civil society.
4. Better policy making – www.strategy.bg has a specific role at improving practices for policy making and policy elaboration. Nowadays you can better analyse the activities of the state at all levels. The existence of the tool stimulated activities for improvement of strategic planning system in Bulgaria.
5. Reduced time, efforts and money for the society and the state to participate in public consultations. We saved time and money for being informed and in taking part of public consultations of the institutions.
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8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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Monitoring system is established. We have introduced regular analysis about:
1. Number of draft normative acts published for public consultations.
2. Number of normative acts adopted by the Council of Ministers after public consultations on the Portal compared to the total number of normative acts adopted by the government.
3. Number of users of the Portal on a daily basis.
4. Activity of the civil society – given comments/proposals on the website.
5. Regular replies to the citizens/other organizations.
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9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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The main obstacle to the implementation was related to the general traditions in the administration and to some misunderstanding of the role of such platform in the governance. However, this obstacle was overcome by discussions, open dialogue with senior civil servants, publicity, etc.
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